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Team Bahrain convenes for third meeting today

(Forimmediaterelease.net) Team Bahrain, the working group of the Kingdom of Bahrain’s Meetings, Incentives, Conventions, and Exhibitions (MICE) sector, convened for its third meeting at Bahrain International Exhibition&Convention Centre (BIECC) today with Mr. Shane Hannam, an authority on the meetings business, and Reed Travel Exhibitions’ sales manager for Europe and North Africa, as guest speaker. “Working Together to Welcome the World" is the theme for the event. It is expected to attract the participation of about 40 representatives from the country’s business and leisure tourism sectors.

“We are very pleased to be in a position to host this event, which is in fulfillment of the objectives of Bahrain Exhibition&Convention Authority (BECA) to contribute towards the development of a proactive and efficient infrastructure and promote continuous cooperation with Bahrain’s hotel and tourism sector in marketing international exhibitions and conferences,” said Mr. Hassan Jaffer Mohamed, chief executive officer of BECA.

“In addition to representing lost profit opportunities to BIECC, our policy of accommodating local society meetings and functions, such as weddings, during peak periods of demand have compromised the primary mission of BECA to generate economic impact by attracting out-of-town visitation for Bahrain and facilitating the government’s efforts of establishing Bahrain as a business and services center and gateway to the lucrative economic markets of the northern Gulf,” added Mr. Mohamed. BECA’s chief executive reiterated that the authority has the flexibility to concentrate on MICE events that bring in significant positive economic benefit to Bahrain.

According to Ms. Debbie Stanford-Kristiansen, deputy chief executive officer of BECA, the authority will continue to fully engage all sections of the MICE community in its journey towards achieving Bahrain’s goal of becoming a regional and global destination for MICE as outlined in the National Economic Strategy for 2009–2014. “BECA is all about securing consensus. Our commitment to develop Bahrain’s MICE sector is demonstrably clear - we will continue to discharge our responsibilities as the country’s business tourism authority and offer support, while involving the MICE community – Team Bahrain - in making difficult choices and decisions affecting the whole sector,” she emphasised. “We need to get the critical buy-in from all the stakeholders in our industry as we seek to make progress for Bahrain.”

BECA orchestrated the formation of Team Bahrain earlier this year. The group convened for the first and second Team Bahrain Events this year, on April 2 and May 20, respectively.